HOLY TRINITY, DEVONPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 52, 2 March 1909, Page 7

HOLY TRINITY, DEVONPORT.

INSTITUTION OF THE NEW VICAR. The Rev. Mark Henry Sutton, the new vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Devon- ' port, was instituted to the cure of souls ■ in that parish last night by the Eight • Rev. the Bishop of Auckland. A large ■ congregation filled the Church. \ After evensong the usual solemn and impressive intsittitional service was re- ' cited. ' Bishop Xeligan preached from He- ] brew's 2rih. 17—"Obey them that have ] the rule over you, and submit your- ' selves: for tbey watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that tbey may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." The passage, he said, epitomised in a succinct manner the main points in the life, activities and functions of a Christian priest and a Christian congregation. It -was the priest's duty to guide and instruct his people in the faith. It *was ' only four years ago that he had instituted a priest to that cure. Their new vicar had been known to him for more years than many persons would care to remember. Some special solemnity and sadness was lent to this occasion by the fact that their es-vicar was leaving them through ill-health. They would treasure his memory for a man of God who never thought of himself, one who in ill-health had ministered to ■ the people not -with grief but with joy. He was going back to the Old Country after making his first home here, and they knew what tender memories, unequalled for sweetness and gentleness, surrounded the first home. It was the duty of the congregation to obey and submit to their vicar, not in a servile manner, but in the spirit of discipline, without which any army must become a mere horde and rabble. It was the congregation's duty to obey the Apostolic Injunction and to pray for their vicar. There must be in the parish a spirit of Christian joy. a spirit of Christian happiness, a spirit of glad Christian optimism prevailing every undertaking. The congregat.on and the vicar learned from each other. So soon as a priest ceased to learn from his people he became useless. There must be give and take in family parochial life." The new vicar was entering upon a big responsibility. There were big tasks before him. As a Tesult of the splendid work of his predecessor he had not a big debt to face, but very soon another church would be required, and already a site had been acquired. Probably the new vicars first work " would be to have another church erected, and then it would be necessary to have ' j another priest, for he would tell them 1 i that one man could not do the work r 111 Devonport. Probably a good young I -man could be found in New Zealand to • fill the position. They should not be ' satisfied in New Zealand to ask the Mother Country for men. Again, he ! must impress upon the new vicar his responsibility to the children as he had impressed it upon __ predecessor, four years ago. He knew that the new vicar 1 would fulfill that trust faithfully, and r would see to it that every child had the ~ opportunity to know of Jesu3 Christ. " He commended the new vicar to the prayers and sympathy of the congrega- ; " tion, and asked the churchwardens and * the vestry to loyally back him up. r The service concluded with the episco--3 pal blessing.